Man Found Not Guilty by Insanity in Virginia Killing Fled to Tajikistan During Approved 48-Hour Pass

A man committed to a Virginia mental hospital after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2019 stabbing death used a 48-hour community pass to fly out of the country and hasn't come back.

Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) in Falls Church on July 6 on an approved, unescorted 48-hour pass, according to court records cited by FOX 5 Washington. He was due back July 8. He never showed.

Instead, court documents show, Toshpulodzoda went to Washington Dulles International Airport and boarded a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, then continued on to Dushanbe, Tajikistan. A Turkish Airlines employee's declaration attached to an August 5 court motion verified the ticket, which FOX 5 reported was purchased by someone else in his name and included a window-seat upgrade code.

What happened in 2019, and why no trial

Toshpulodzoda was accused of fatally stabbing his landlord, Mohammad Hemmatian, in 2019. Investigators found him "covered in blood from head to toe" at the scene, according to court records reported by the Daily Wire. He told police "I am guilty."

He was never convicted. In October 2022, a court found him not guilty by reason of insanity, a judgment entered "with the concurrence of" Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano, per the Daily Wire. A defense psychologist, Sahair Monfared, evaluated him "given the intertwining of Islam with Mr. Tospulodozoda's delusions" and recommended the insanity finding; an independent psychologist hired by prosecutors agreed.

The Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office explained the legal significance: "Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda was found by clinicians to be insane at the time he killed Mohammad Hemmatian, a legal finding that means the Commonwealth would be unable to secure a conviction at trial," the office said in a statement reported by FOX 5 and the New York Post. Insanity acquittals require clinical findings from multiple evaluators, and prosecutors cannot override medical conclusions unilaterally.

The pass, the passport, and the pattern

This wasn't Toshpulodzoda's first trip outside the facility. FOX 5 reported he was allowed to travel to Washington, D.C. in 2024, with the Commonwealth's Attorney's office supporting the trip, specifically to obtain a passport from the Tajikistan Embassy.

Virginia law allows mental health facilities to grant committed patients, including those who committed violent acts, unescorted day or weekend passes as part of graduated treatment privileges. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) told FOX 5 that clinical teams can request these privileges even though courts retain authority over whether someone stays committed.

On June 29, 2026, a Fairfax County judge found Toshpulodzoda "remained mentally ill and in need of inpatient hospitalization" and ordered he "shall not be released from custody and inpatient hospitalization without further order of this court," according to court records. One week later, the facility sent him out on an unescorted pass anyway.

Prosecutors say they opposed his release at every annual review, including that June hearing, citing public safety concerns. The Commonwealth's Attorney's office acknowledged it plays no role in day-to-day facility decisions about passes. A judge can order continued confinement, yet clinical teams can still authorize an unescorted trip to Dulles Airport, with nobody outside the hospital signing off.

Who's responsible, and what's disputed

Some coverage has gone further than the court record supports. The Daily Wire's headline framed the case around a "Muslim extremist" and suggested the judge "wanted to shield" him from deportation, a characterization not established by the court documents themselves, which describe a standard insanity-acquittee release framework, not an immigration-driven decision. A separate item circulating online, from a source called dedicatedissues, named DBHDS Commissioner Daryl Washington and Gov. Abigail Spanberger by political affiliation as if they personally approved this release; there's no evidence in the court record that either was involved in the pass decision. Spanberger took office in January 2026, and the conditional-release evaluation process described in reporting dates back to 2025, under different circumstances than a hands-on approval.

What is documented: after Toshpulodzoda failed to return, NVMHI placed him on escape status, revoked the pass, and issued a facility warrant. Virginia State Police and federal authorities were notified, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued an alert. The Commonwealth's Attorney's office filed a motion on August 5, roughly a month after he vanished, asking a judge to issue a warrant enforceable beyond Virginia's borders. A bench warrant is now in place. If he re-enters the U.S., he'll be arrested and returned to Virginia custody.

Toshpulodzoda remains in Tajikistan, a country with no extradition treaty with the United States. Whether Virginia lawmakers revisit the statute allowing unescorted passes for violent insanity acquittees, especially those with foreign travel documents, is now the open question. So far, no legislation has been introduced.